49 
possible to cheer him up. I think that I under- 
stand his trouble pretty well. I do not believe 
that any man in this country realizes more fully 
than I do the great service that he has rendered 
American agriculture and especially American hor- 
ticulture. I regard his introduction of Pyrus 
ussuriensis as worth many millions to our future 
pear industry. 
Mr. Fairchild answered Mr. Meyer's letter of May 22 on June 
?9. 1917: 
We are all much grieved to hear that you have 
had a nervous breakdown. We can none of us be- 
lieve but that with your unusual physique you will 
rally from your nervousness and get back on your 
feet in a short time, providing you can shake off 
your worries with regard to things to be done, 
responsibilities that have come as a result of the 
war, etc. Your letter reaches me just in time for 
me to notify Mr. Reimer, and I have a hope that you 
can get together with him and that you will find 
the kind of companionship which you evidently need 
more than anything else. T realize to some extent 
v/hat continued isolation among a people whose 
language you do not understand means and the nerv- 
ous strain which it throws upon you. I have just 
made the acquaintance of two young men who have 
spent over a year in Belgium and the devastated 
regions of France, where they were continually 
under guard, so to speak, and could make no move 
without taking with them German officers. They 
told me that the strain became unbearable, and 
they show it in their faces. One young fellov/ 
has gone into the army. We had him out to our 
place "In the Woods" last Sunday, and he told us 
that the twenty-four hours spent with us were the 
first quiet hours he had known for over a year and 
a half. 
Affairs here in Washington are tuning ud rapid- 
ly and it is marvelous to see the way in which our 
industries are rallying and arranging themselves 
under small committees Y/hich keep in touch viith 
government activities and direct those activities 
of their various cooperators and companies v/hich 
have a bearing on this whole great war problem. 
The proposal to throw half a billion dollars into 
aviation has met with general approval, and it is 
believed that in this v/ay the war can be most 
December 31, I917. 
